Valve mechanism for engines



F. W. OFELDT.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR ENGIN ES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28, 1920.

Patented N 0v. 23, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI I.

PDQ/617107 F. W. OFELDT.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR ENGINES.

APPLIC A T I 0 N F l L E D A P R 2 8,"!920.

1,359,523. I Patented Nov. 23,1920.

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a In 5 R fiver/tor UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK W. OFELIDT, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOIR OF ONE-HALF TO FRANK MCCARTHY, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application fi1ed April 28, 1920. Serial No. 377,282.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W. OFELDT, of Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Valve Mechanism for Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of an engine and valve mechanism embodying my invention I Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the valve removed;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the preferred form of ports;

Fig. 1 is a partial longitudinal section. showing a modification; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the valve shown in Fig. l.

My invention has relation to valve mechanism for engines, and more particularly to valve mechanisms for distributing motive fluid to a multicylinder engine of the type in which the cylinders rotate about a fixed center. The term engine, as used. herein and in the appended claims, not only in-- cludes engines proper, but also pumps, compressors, etc, of the type just referred to.

An object of my invention is to provide valve mechanism of simple and efficient character whereby a single valve may be utilized to distribute motive fluid to a plurality of cylinders,the valve being so constructed and arranged that no special operating connections are required for it.

A further object of my inventionis to provide a valve of this character in which there will be a minimum amount of wear between the valve and the valve seat, the movement of the valve relatively to the seat being such as to tend to maintain a perfect seating fit between the parts.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means of simple character whereby valves, such as above referred to, may be readily adjusted to vary the point of cut off and also the lead, aswell as for reversing the engine.

The nature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated two difierent' embodiments thereof 7 and which will now be described, it being premised, however, that various changes can be made in the details of construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims.

Referring first to that form of my invention shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the numeral2 designates an outer stationary housing having at one end portion suitable supports 3 for a stationary crank shaft 4, having a crank pin 5. 6 designates two of the radially arranged cylinders of which any desired number may be employed, these cylinders beingmounted in an inner casing or housing member 7, which is arranged to rotate with the cylinders upon suitable bearings such as indicated at 8. 9 designates pistons which reciprocate in the cylinders and which are connected to the eccentrio hub 10 by the connecting rods 11. En gines of this general type are well known in the art, and as my invention is not concerned with the details of the engine itself, they need not be further described.

The casing 7 is provided at one end with a concave valve seat 12, of approximately semi-spherical form, and from which leads the series of spaced ports 13, extending to the several cylinders.

14: designates the valve proper, which is of approximately semi-spherical form adapted to seat closely in the seat 12. The body of this valve is made hollow, as shown at 15, the hollow chamber so formed communicating by a series of peripheral openings 16 with a continuous annular port 17, formed in the exterior of the valve body and extending entirely around the same, as best shown in Fig. 2. The valve is provided with a hollow stem 18, which extends within the coupling member. 19, this coupling member being fitted within a cooperating couplin member 20, to which is attached a 'flexlble supply pipe 21, for the motive fluid. The valve is set obliquely with respect to the seat, so that its stem 18 is at an acute angle with respect to the crank 5. The end plate 22 of the rotatable casing 7 is provided withga central opening 23, through which the coupling member 19 with the valve stem therein projects into engagement with the coupling member 20. The coupling member 20 is slidablymounted on-the curved guide bar 23, whereby the Patented Nov. 23, 1920.

effect a reversal of the engine.

angle of the bar, with respect to the crank pin may be varied, to thereby vary the point of cut off for each of the ports 18. The desired adjustment may be secured by any suitable means, such as the spring pawl 2d, adapted to engage in one of a number of teeth on the bar 23. Said end plate is also preferably rotatably seated in the easing, so that it may be rotated by means of a suitable handle 26. The effect of this rotation, as will be readily seen will be to vary the lead of the valve; or if said end plate berotated to a sufficient extent, it will Such reversal as well as changes in the lead of the valve may also be effected by rotating the crank shaft 4;, by means of a suitable handle 27, provided with a locking pawl 28. As

will be readily 'seen, theturning of 'the crank shaft will affect the angular position of the crank pin 5 with respect to the valve. 29 designates a pinion which is keyed or made fast to a sleeve 30, surrounding the crank shaft & and rigidly connected with 'means whereby power the rotating casing 7.7 This pinion forms a may be taken from the englne.

As will be readilynnderstood, the reciprocation of the pistons in their respectivecyl' inders will, through the connecting rods and eccentric hub, causea rotation of said cylinders about the center of the crank shaft 4, thereby rotating the casing 7 and such relative movement as occurs between these surfaces 1s of a lapplng or grinding nature'which tends to constantly keep the parts to aproper seating fit.

c In the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the ports-ll'l correspond to the ports 13 in Fig. 1- and lead to an arrangement of cylinders the same as shown in that figure. 7? is a rotating casing corresponding to the casing 7, first described, and vthrough which these ports extend. In this' figure, however, these ports lead through a hat valve seat 12, and the valve 14* instead of beingro f semi-spherical form, is of fiat disk form with a'hollow interior chamber 15 into which motive fluid is admittedthrough the hollow stein 18 The motive fluid "escapes from the chamber 15? through the periph eral openings 16*, into the annular port 17',

"which opens against the seat 12*. The

stem 18 extends into the end plate 22 of the casing, and :which end plate may be rotated in the same manner as the plate 22, first described,- to vary thelead or to reverse the motor. 7

In order to provide for a relatively quick opening and closing of the ports 13 or 18*, these ports where they open through the valve seat 12 or 12 are preferably of the triangular form, indicated in Fig. 3. The effect of this, in combination with the peculiar niovementof the valve with respect to its seat, is to give a relatively quick opening and closing of the ports.

The advantages of my invention will be readily apparent, since it provides a single valve adapted to properly distribute the inotivlefiuid' to a plurality of rotating cylinders, and which is so constructed and arranged as to make it especially adapted for high speed engines. Owing to the simplicity of the construction and'the absence of any special connecting parts for actuating the valve, an engine of any given horse power may be constructed in a very compact form. The arrangement whereby the relative movement which takes place be tween the valve and its'seatis of a character to constantly grind the seating surfaces is also of importance.

I claim: a

1.. A multicyl'ider engine of the rotating cylinder type having a single valve seat provided with ports leading to the several cylinders and adapted to rotate with the cylim'lers, and a valve fitting said seat and ionnted to rotate on a different center from the seat, substantially as described.

2. A multicylinder engine of the rotary cylinder type having a valve seat arranged to rotate with the'cylinder and provided with portsleading to the respective c vl inders, and a hollow rotary valve fitted to said seat and mounted to rotate about a center different from the center of rotation of. the cylinders, said valve having a continuous annular port communicatingwith the hollow interior of the ,valve and coeperating with the ports in. said seat, substantially as; described. I

3. A mnlticylinder engine of the rotary xyliiider type having a valve seat arranged to rotate with the cylinder and provided with p ort's'leading to the respective fcylind ers, and a hollow rotary valve fitted to said seat and mounted to rotate'about a centerv diiferent from the center of rotation of the cylinders, said valve having a continuous V annular port communicating with the hollow interior ofthevalve and cooperating with the ports 1nsaid seaasaid port being concentric with the aXisof rotation ofthe valve, substantially as descrlbed,

4. A multic'ylinderi'engine of the rotary 1'30 cylinder type having a single valve seat provided with ports leading to the several cylinders and adapted to rotate with the cylinders, and a valve fitting said seat and mounted to rotate on a different center from the seat, together with means for changing the position of the valve with respect to the center of the seat, substantially as described.

5. A multicylinder engine of the rotary cylinder type having a single valve seat provided with ports leading to the several cyl inders and adapted to rotate with the cylinders, and a valve fitting said seat and mounted to rotate on a different center from the seat, together with means for adjusting the ports to vary the lead of the valve, substantially as described.

6. A rotary engine of the Inulticylinder type in'which the cylinders revolve about a fixed center, said engine having a valve seat arranged to rotate with the cylinders about said fixed center, and a single distributing valve fitted to said seat and arranged to be rotated with the cylinders and about an axis which. is different from the axis of rotation of the c linders, substantially as described.

7. A rotary engine of the multicylinder type in which the cylinders revolve about a fixed center, said engine having a valve seat arranged to rotate with the cylinders about said fixed center, and a single distributing valve fitted to said seat, and arranged to be rotated with the cylinders and about an axis which is dilierent from the axis of rotation of the cylinders, together with means for changing the position of the valve relatively to its seat, to thereby vary the point of cut off or the amount oi? lead, substantially as described.

8. A Inulticylinder engine of the rotary cylinder type, in which the cylinders revolve about a fixed axis, said engine having a valve seat arranged to rotate with the cylinders about such axis, and said seat hav ing a plurality oi": ports leading to the respective cylinders, a hollow distributing valve fitted to said seat and having an annular exterior port cooperating with the ports in said seat and communicating with the hollow interior of the valve, said valve having a hollow stem provided with a supply connection for motive fluid and the valve and stem being held to rotate under the rotary action of the seat about a center which is difierent from the center of rotation of the cylinders, substantially as described. V

9. A niulticylinder engine of the rotary cylinder type in which the cylinders revolve about a fixed axis, said engine having a valve seat arranged to rotate with the cylinders about such axis, and said seat having a plurality of ports leading to the respective cylinders, a hollow distributing valve fitted to said seat and having an annular exterior port cooperating with the ports in said seat and communicating with the hollow inte-- rior of the valve, said valve having a hollow stem provided with a supply connection for motive fluid and the valve and stem being held to rotate under the rotary action of the seat about a center which is different from the center of rotation of the cylinders, together with means for changing the position of the valve relatively to its seat to thereby vary the point of out oft" or the lead of the valve, substantially as described.

10. A rotary engine of the multicylinder type in which the cylinders rotate about a fixed axis and havinga single distributing valve arranged to rotate about a different axis, substantially as described.

11. A rotary engine of the inulticylinder type in which the cylinders rotate about a fixed axis having a single distributing valve arranged to rotate about a different axis, said valve being mounted for rotation by the engine about an axis which is different from the axis about which said cylinders rotate, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

FRANK W. OFELDT. 

